The Human Zoo (radio)
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The Human Zoo, a radio program on Talksport, was presented by Tommy Boyd, with his engineer Asher Gould acting as co-presenter. It was broadcast from May 2000 until Boyd's dismissal in March 2002 and took its name from a 1969 book of the same name by Desmond Morris.
Format
The program followed a 'phone in' format, where callers were unscreened, went straight to air, and were free to discuss whatever they wanted as long as broadcasting regulations permitted it.[1]
An important part of the production of the program was the need to prevent a broadcast of offensive or illegal material by callers. This was achieved by a facility known as the dump button, a method often employed in phones in radio for this purpose. The station's output was broadcast several seconds after it was produced in the studio, allowing for a small amount of time for the station to be silenced after unwanted comments had been made by the caller(s).[2]
The Human Zoo encouraged a very wide variety of callers to contribute, including some who called in to give short performances, play pieces of prepared audio, or just shout out catchphrases.
Demise
Boyd was sacked from talkSPORT in March 2002 after failing to use the profanity delay to "dump" a caller's remarks that the British Royal Family should be shot.[3][4]
References
- ^ Mahoney, Elisabeth (2001-03-02). "Radio review". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
- ^ Hodgson, Jessica (2002-04-12). "DJ fired after royal death threat". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
- ^ Hodgson, Jessica (2002-04-12). "DJ fired after royal death threat". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
- ^ "DJ sacked over radio republican". The Telegraph. 2002-04-13. Retrieved 2024-03-30.